Dial Daily Bread: Why Is the “City” Called the “New” Jerusalem?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

If “the marriage of the Lamb” has been delayed because “His wife has [not] made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7), what can we do about it? If “the Lamb’s wife” is the New Jerusalem, the Holy City in heaven (21:9, 10), how can we make it “ready”? It’s beyond us, so forget it, go back to sleep.

When the angel told John, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife,” he gave him a panoramic view of the city. It had “a great and high wall with twelve gates, ... twelve foundations, ... the city was pure gold, ... the twelve gates were twelve pearls, ... the street of the city was pure gold” (21:9-21). Even for angel architects and heavenly construction workers, “making” such a “city” “ready” would be a big job. Paving Main Street with gold, for example, must take time. Is that what has delayed the coming of Christ?

The “city” is real, very real; and its material construction was probably completed long, long ago. But what is the real “city”? Why is it called the “NewJerusalem”? The “Jerusalem” that crucified Jesus was the old one. When He addressed the old “city,” sobbing like His heart would break, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! ... Your house is left to you desolate” (Matt. 23:37, 38), was He speaking to the cobblestones in the pavement, the timber in the gates, or was He addressing the people, the inhabitants of the city?

The inhabitants of the New Jerusalem are described in Revelation 14:1-5 as “the ones who follow [not rebel against] the Lamb wherever He goes. ... They are without fault before the throne of God.” These same “ones” have “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (7:14). This is character-cleansing—accomplished by grace through the faith of Jesus.

When He died on His cross and cried out, “It is finished!” Satan was forever defeated, the great controversy won. But after 2000 years Jesus must also say that His seventh of the seven churches is “Theone” of all history that doesn’t know it is “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (3:17). Yes, she has something to do to “make herself ready for the marriage of the Lamb.” We must wake up.

—Robert J. Wieland

From the “Dial Daily Bread” Archive: April 29, 2004.
Copyright © 2019 by “Dial Daily Bread.”

Dial Daily Bread: On the Cross Jesus Was Thinking Especially of Children

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

In that last hour as He hung upon His cross, Jesus was thinking especially of boys and girls. The proof of this is found where we have perhaps overlooked it--Psalm 22.

That is the psalm that details for us the transition in His thoughts on the cross from His despairing cry, "My God why have You forsaken Me!" to His last triumphant, joy-filled shout, "It is finished!" Psalm 22 reveals His thoughts as though a stenographer was recording them.

The last few verses of Psalm 22 have been rather confusing in many translations. Note how Peterson (The Message) seems to have caught the idea:

"Shout Hallelujah, you God-worshipers; give glory, you sons of Jacob; adore Him, you daughters of Israel. He has never let you down, never looked the other way when you were being kicked around. He has never wandered off to do His own thing; He has been right there, listening. ... From the four corners of the earth people are coming to their senses, are running back to God. Long-lost families are falling on their faces before Him. ... All the poor and powerless, too--worshiping! Along with those who never got it together--worshiping! Our children and their children will get in on this as the word is passed along from parent to child. Babies not yet conceived will hear the Good News."

And then comes that one Hebrew word, the last word of Psalm 22 that defies translators: Asah, the word that means "It is finished!" Jesus' last thoughts were of the grand Loud Cry that closes the gospel dispensation when the earth is lightened with the glory of the final message, when the Voice from heaven calls all of God's people to "Come out of her [Babylon]."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 3, 2002.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Will the Time Ever Come When the World’s Inhabitants Believe “The Everlasting Gospel”?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

Will the time ever come when the majority of the world's inhabitants choose to honor and glorify Christ by believing "the everlasting gospel"?

The parable He told of the unjust judge and the importunate widow suggests the answer is “No”`: Jesus asks, "When the Son of man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). Abundant testimony in the Bible tells of Satan leading the world's population into bitter rebellion against Christ with the enforcement of "the mark of the beast" (compare Revelation 13, for example).

How then can the faithful followers of Christ honor Him and glorify Him in the close of the great Day of Atonement?

The great controversy between Christ and Satan will finally be victory for the Lamb of God, but it will not be settled by a majority vote of earth's inhabitants, except as they vote to judge and condemn themselves. What will happen in the final events as we know them will presage the Judgment before the Great White Throne when the books at last are "opened" and all mankind are "judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books" (Rev. 20:12). Those who will have come up in the second resurrection at the end of the 1000 years will be in “number as the sand of the sea" (vs. 8).

But the total number of those who in the closing of the world's history will be totally loyal to the Lamb will be only "144,000," says Revelation 14:1-5, although 7:9, 10 gives encouragement for those who believe that it is a symbolic number, and the zoom lens reveals an actual count of "a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues." This sounds more like the fruitage that the sacrificed Lamb of God deserves to have!

All we know for sure is that the group who "follow the Lamb wherever He goes," in whose mouth "was found no guile," who are "without fault before the throne of God," grants to Him to "see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied" (Isa. 53:11). He deserves that vindication! And those who finally choose to rebel will judge and condemn themselves; the final vote that will vindicate Christ in the great controversy will be totally unanimous--even Satan will be bowing and confessing that truth.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 28, 2007.
Copyright © 2019 by “Dial Daily Bread.”

Dial Daily Bread: What Does It Mean to Live Under the New Covenant?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What does it mean to "live under the New Covenant," or the promise of God? All of God's promises were made to the "Seed" (singular), which is Christ (Gal. 3:16), and the only way we come into the picture is "in Christ."

Christ was known as "the son of David," not only through physical ancestry, but because in His incarnation He "lived" in David's psalms. As the leadership of God's true church condemned Jesus, so the divinely appointed leadership of His true church in the days of King Saul condemned David. Saul was "the anointed of the Lord," and David's agony was not only the physical exertion of constantly fleeing from Saul but wrestling with the greater temptation to doubt that God had truly anointed himto be king of Israel. He had to overcome, to believethat God would take care of him.

Thus we have David's psalms written during his exile (57, 59. for example); repeatedly, the future king begins by wrestling with fear (Old Covenant-inspired!), and before the end of the psalm he erupts in New Covenant joy of believing that the Lord will not forsake but vindicate him.

A millennium later the Son of God, sent "in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: ... condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3), which He had taken upon Himself, wrestles with the same temptation. He "was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15), triumphing again over ourOld Covenant fears, emerging day by day into New Covenant sunlight (compare Isa. 50:4, 5).

This goes on continually in His earthly life until the greatest temptation of all to Old Covenant unbelief as He hangs on His cross in the darkness crying, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" And there on the cross He wrestles His way through the darkness into the sunlight of New Covenant faith, crying out joyously as His heart was already bleeding to death, "You who fear the Lord, praise Him! ... He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted [Me!], nor has He hidden His face from Him [Me!], ... He heard"! (Psalm 22:23, 24).

Jesus has taught us how to live under the New Covenant.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 6, 2006.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The “Gospel of Self-esteem” vs. the “Gospel of Self-respect”

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

The "gospel of self-esteem" is different from the “gospel of self-respect." The latter is from the Lord; the former is a snare.

Both are mentioned in Romans 12:3 where the inspired apostle pleads with us: "I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think." In other words, be careful: don't give yourself an overdose of "self-esteem" thinking! Thank God for "the grace" that was given to "our beloved brother Paul" (2 Peter 3:15). He will discourage no one; all he knows how to do is to encourage people like you and me.

So, on the other hand, he says don't dig a hole and crawl into it: you're worth an infinite price. Paul goes on to preach to us the gospel of self-respect: but "through the grace given to me, [I say] to everyone who is among you, … think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure [metron, Greek] of faith."

A good place to start learning is Psalm 139:

Your heavenly Father knows you in and out (but still loves you, amazing! (vss. 1-6).

He "formed [your] inward parts ... in [your] mother's womb" (vss. 13-15). That means He engineered the intricate mechanisms of your conscious and unconscious mental functions, the interplay of your emotions and senses of heart-appreciation.

He put you together from a divinely invented Blueprint (vs. 16). No one else on earth was to be or has been exactly like you. You are something special; that's good.

Run away from Him today and you're back in His school tomorrow (vss. 7-10).

Your moments of deepest depression are not dark with despair; your heavenly Father's "hand" is on you in your darkness where faith is still working (vss. 9-12).

It does you worlds of good to know that a friend is just thinking of you, remembering you, in your hour of deep personal trial. Think of your heavenly Father--thinking a thousand thoughts about you, all of them full of grace (vss. 17, 18).

Now, be happy: stop being afraid to let Him search your heart (vss. 23, 24).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 16, 2007.
Copyright © 2019 by “Dial Daily Bread.”

Dial Daily Bread: If Your Faith Is Tried to the Utmost

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Lord loves to "turn the captivity" of people who have suffered, and bring them out of the painful shadows of rejection into the bright sunlight of His favor.

Take Joseph for example. We think of the text that says "Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth" (Eccl. 11:9). Boys should be full of fun. But Joseph at the age of 17 or maybe 18 is crying his eyes out one night in an agony worse almost than death--he has just been sold as a slave to some hard-hearted Midianites. A life of torture is before him, when he had thought that God's favor was on him.

And those who sold him? His fellow church-members, his ten brothers in the faith. No, they are more than that--they are the church leadership of his day, for they were all older than he, the heirs of the glorious promises God made to Abraham's descendants. Condemned to Egyptian slavery, Joseph appears to be God-forsaken, and he feels like it except for the little glimmer of faith he has.

His slavery goes from bad to worse and he ends up in a dark Egyptian prison. At least 12 or 13 years of this "chastisement" discipline go on; the Lord must have loved him enormously, for "whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives" (Heb. 12:5-9).

The Lord gave Joseph a little sunlight when he was made prime minister of the realm of Egypt and he realized that his painful suffering had prepared him to become the famine "savior" of the Middle East civilization of his day.

But still the years of soul captivity dragged on; his constant temptation was to think that the prophetic dreams of his boyhood were a deception; no one can suffer a deep, private pain more agonizing than the fear that the Lord truly has betrayed your trust. You can't talk to anyone about it. Not until his ten brothers come and kneel before him in fulfillment of his prophetic childhood dream is Joseph finally led out into the bright sunshine of the heavenly Father's vindication.

There are little Josephs all over the world today, people whose faith is tried to the utmost (it seems to them) when everything seems to shout at them that God has forgotten them. In some cases as in the life of the prophet Jeremiah, the pain goes on and on until death is the final release from it (then the Jews realized that he had been the prince of prophets).

If you must look through tears, remember that "God is love"--your "Abba, Father" (Rom. 8:15-17) who has adopted you into His family. Remembering brings joy.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 12, 2007.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Have You Ever Thought What Your “Birthright” Is?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

Fast forward to the last part of the last book of the Bible—Revelation. In chapter 20 we come upon the last great Judgment, when the second resurrection has already happened, and every human soul who has ever lived finally stands together before the Great White Throne. He who sits thereon is Someone very special before “whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them” (vs. 11).

The opening of the “books” is a simile for the final Judgment that faces every soul.

Every human soul who is savedwill give thanks and praise to the Lamb one hundred percent for his or her salvation.

Every lost soul will face a revelation new to him or her: each will realize too late that Christ has already died for his or her sin—there is no need for them to come into final condemnation except they have treated the sacrifice of Christ in the same way that Esau treated the birthright that was his already. He “despised” it and “sold” it for a tiny, temporary indulgence of “appetite.” When he realized what he had done, he cried buckets of tears (Heb. 12:16, 17), but he could not undo what he had done.

Esau’s judgment is more factually said in the Genesis story: Esau “did eat and drink, and rose up and went his way; thus Esau despised his birthright” (25:30-34). All his life he tried to “repent” with his tears, but the birthright was gone forever.

Have you ever thought what your “birthright” is? It’s the eternal salvation that Christ has already purchased for you with His blood. And has given to you already.

The way Romans 5 describes it is this: “The gift of God is not to be compared in its effect with that one man’s sin [Adam’s]; for the judicial action, following on the one offence, resulted in a [judicial] verdict of condemnation, but the act of grace, following on so many misdeeds, resulted in a [judicial] verdict of acquittal. ... It follows, then, that as the result of one misdeed [Adam’s] was condemnation for all people, so the result of one righteous act [at Christ’s cross—the only one ‘righteous act’ ever performed on this planet!] is acquittal and life for all” (Rom. 5:15-18, The Revised English Bible).

At the end of the 1000 years the lost will at last understand this. They had the birthright, it was in their hands, but they threw it away.

Father, save us from ourselves, today!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 6, 2008.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Addiction of All Addictions

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

I have always tried to tell people that the Gospel is veryGood News. I tell them that Jesus said, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matt. 11:28-30). Some don't like to hear those words; they want to emphasize how hard it is to follow Jesus, how much you must give up, how much you must do, your salvation depends on your knowing how difficult it is to be saved.

And I will agree--there is one verydifficult thing about being saved: that is, learning how to believe. Jesus says in John 3:17-19 that notbelieving will keep us out of heaven. Indeed! Serious!

And the truth is that all of us were born in an unbelieving state; believing is never transmitted genetically; unbelief is natural to us; unbelieving is far and above the most difficult thing humans have to learn to overcome. It is the addiction of all addictions, the most insidious, the most pervasive. "He who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (vs. 18).

The distraught father in Mark 9:17-24 shows us how deep the problem is rooted in our human nature. Jesus said to him, almost like tantalizing him, "All things are possible to him who believes." Then the poor man realized how awful his problem was, how every cell of his being was saturated with unbelief: he burst into tears and cried out in anguish, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"

Now, there is Good News in that story. The moment you realize that unbelief is your real problem, help is on the way. A wise writer said, "you can never perish" if from your heart you pray that man's prayer. The people above all people whom Heaven rushes to help are those who realize the depths of their sin.

Unbelief is the most serious problem in the world church, the source of our lukewarmness, the reason for the delay in the coming of Jesus. We mustlearn to believe how good the Good News is; and the moment we say that, we remember that Christ will have a people who will overcome even as He overcame. He did not die in vain! He will see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied (Isa. 53:11).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 29, 1997.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Didn’t Abram’s Obedience Contribute to His Salvation?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

When Abram obeyed God and left Ur of the Chaldees (Gen. 11:31-12:1), didn’t his obedience contribute to his salvation? How can we say that his salvation was 100 percent the work of God?

That sounds reasonable, but the promises were not made before he heard God call him out of Ur. It was like Revelation 18 describing our last days: “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. ... Come out of her, My people” (vss. 1-4). Abram’s “coming out” of Ur (ancient Babylon) only put him in a place to hear what God was saying, but did not contribute to his salvation. Further, God made no “bargain” with him, “cut no deal” with him, negotiated no “agreement” with him.

There was nothing of the Old Covenant woven into the New Covenant promises God made to Abram. The New Covenant promises were not a lure to bribe him or entice him into leaving Ur. Abram’s faith was purely a heart appreciation of God’s promises which revealed the truth of His character of love (compare John 8:56). In eternity, Abraham will never claim that his faithful obedience merited his salvation in the least (compare Eph. 2:8, 9).

When we confess our sins and repent, are we not doing something important? Why must we say that our salvation is 100 percent the work of God?

Confession of sin and repentance are just another way of saying exactly what Abram did when we read, “He believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen 15:6). Faith does not give us an iota of merit. We receive it 100 percent, yes; but thank God also for the grace He gives you to enable you to exercise it!

We cannot even claim that our faith saves us, for we read, “By graceyou have been saved throughfaith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, notof works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 4:8, 9). No one will ever claim in eternity, “Yes, Jesus saved me; but don’t forget, I confessed and repented of my sins. I helped save myself.” We will all enter heaven 100 percent in debt to the Lamb of God.

The sooner we realize that truth the happier we will be.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 22,2003.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Is It Easy or Hard to Be Saved?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

The question haunts Christians: "Is it easy or is it hard to be saved? Are we correctly representing the Lord Jesus if we tell people that following Jesus is the difficult way to choose?"

Many people, especially youth, have somehow gained the impression that to be a genuine, true Christian is the hardest thing anyone can do, and for sure Jesus tells us we must "strive to enter through the narrow gate" (Luke 13:24), and we must "compete" as "in athletics" (2 Tim. 2:5), and according to The New King James Versionin Matthew 7:14 Jesus said His way is "difficult " (the King James Versionsays "narrow," and that is the correct meaning of the Greek word there; it is not "difficult").

On the other hand, Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30 that His "yoke is easy," and His "burden is light."

Who are we to believe--those who represent Jesus as telling us His way is "difficult," or those who tell us He says His yoke is easy and His burden light? The two positions are as far apart as the east is from the west.

There is a mountain in the West that had a steep road going up. Model T's had trouble climbing it; they found it "difficult." No one could honestly deny that the road up Pike's Peak was "difficult."

But if someone installed a V-8 engine in the Ford, it could zip up the mountain road with "ease." Is the missing factor our lack of understanding what Paul calls "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5, 14)?

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 9, 2005.
Copyright © 2019 by “Dial Daily Bread.”

Dial Daily Bread: The Gift of Repentance

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Sin is the source of all the suffering and anguish in the world, and everyone is born with the problem in his or her nature. The classic definition is, "Sin is the transgression of the law," the "law" being understood as God's law (1 John 3:4, King James Version). But the Greek is only one little word, anomia, which literally is, "a state of being against the law."

In other words, sin is heart-rebellion against the government of God, not merely outwardly doing things that are unlawful. Another word for it is "alienation." "The carnal mind is enmity against God," heart-alienation (Rom. 8:7). And "enmity" always finds expression.

The ultimate expression of that inner hatred known as anomiais seen when the human race vented that pent-up hatred of God in their murder of the Son of God (see Acts 3:14, 15). The Murder behind all murders! And all of us were implicated (Rom. 3:23, 24; Zech 12:10). It happened because of a deep-seated principle: hatred cherished in the heart always leads to the act: "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer" (1 John 3:15). And of course, "no murderer has eternal life abiding in him," says the same verse.

Can this terrible sin be eradicated? The Bible says Yes! and it will be. But only through repentance for that sin of murdering the Son of God. That's why we read in Revelation 12:11 that God will have a people who "overcame [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb."

Repentance is a gift of the Holy Spirit, the last gift He will give before He is finally withdrawn from the earth when the seven last plagues must fall (Rev. 15, 16). Repentance is a newly gifted hatred for sin that constrains one "henceforth" (KJV) to deny self and to take up the cross to follow the Lamb of God (2 Cor. 5:14, 15; Luke 9:23). Repentance includes receiving the precious gift of the atonement, that is, of being reconciled to the God whom once we hated (Rom. 5:7-11).

The Good News? It's still not too late to open our hearts and receive that gift of repentance He wants to give.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 30, 1999.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Grandest Revelations of “Christ and Him Crucified” Since Pentecost

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

We humans build houses and then wait for people to buy them and move in. God does the opposite: He "builds" human characters of "righteousness" first and then creates "a new heaven and new earth" for them to move in to, and inhabit (2 Peter 3:13).

This "building" for them a new heaven and new earth is for Him a trifling accomplishment. He once "created ... the earth and the things that are in it" in a mere six days (Rev. 10:6; Ex. 20:11). His problem now is not creating a home for His people to live in forever; it's getting them ready to move in, for only "righteousness dwells" there. And He cannot create righteousness in any human heart without that person's full consent; and again, in turn, that full consent is not forthcoming so long as (in any respect) "self" is still holding sway in that heart.

This involves a deeper heart-cleansing than we like to realize. Ever since the beginning of the great Day of Atonement there has been a constant effort on God's part to lead His people to a heart-preparation for the return of Jesus. He is in earnest about that, not content for "world without end" to go on and on, generation after generation of saints going in the grave to join multitudes from Abel on. All of these wonderful saints are "guests" at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9). Wonderful!

But there must also be a "Bride" or there can't be a marriage. One "making herself ready" is the Heroine of this Day of Atonement. But for any bride to be happy in her marriage she must be totally at-one-with her Bridegroom. But that's impossible for any "woman" (even the figurative one, the church) unless she is totally convinced of the devoted love of her Bridegroom.

That brings us to our point: for the church to become so totally won will require the grandest revelations of "Christ and Him crucified" the church (and the world) have heard since Pentecost.

And that will be the message Elijah brings that "turns hearts" (Mal. 4:5, 6).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 12, 2006.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Root of All Religious Falsehood

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There is a fascinating story in Daniel 2, which tells how the intelligentsia of ancient Babylon had a modern counterfeit idea of God. The rock-bottom basis of their false idea is held today by millions.

King Nebuchadnezzar understood enough to know that there is somewhere in the universe a true God. He had blindly trusted the religious leaders of his empire, assuming they were in touch with whoever this "God" is. The true God of heaven had given him what we now know was an important prophetic dream. But God also gave the king temporary amnesia so that events could disillusion him. He correctly decided that if the religious leaders of his empire were indeed in touch with "God," whoever He was, they could learn from Him the details of His prophetic vision and explain it.

Good thinking! But they were stumped. The king was in distress; it seemed that the fate of the world depended on his understanding this strange divine revelation (in a way, it did!). He demanded that they earn their salary by demonstrating their "superior" wisdom. Impossible, they said; no one on earth could do what you want "except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh" (2:11).

And there lies the root of all religious falsehood, even some so-called "Christian." The Bible says there are "many false prophets" today, as there were in Babylon (Matt. 24:11). Their fundamental idea? The same as the Chaldeans--it "does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, ... and this is the spirit of the Antichrist" (1 John 4:2, 3).

The Babylonians believed there is a "God," but not one who has taken upon Himself our "flesh," "the likeness of sinful flesh," who has "partaken" of the same fallen "flesh and blood" that all we "children" of the fallen Adam by nature possess. In that same "flesh" that we have, Christ "condemned sin" so that "the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled" in all who will simply have "the faith of Jesus" (see Rom. 8:3, 4; Heb. 2:14-17; Rev. 14:12).

Daniel gave the king Good News. Let's believe it!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 8, 2004.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Why Do People Who Love Truth Feel Motivated to Tell It?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Abel told his brother Cain the truth in kind, loving words; the latter rose up and murdered him. For six millennia (and more), unnumbered Abels have told unnumbered Cains the truth in the same kind, loving words, and have been hated for it. For nearly 1260 years of the Dark Ages, millions of Christians who loved truth were persecuted by millions more professed Christians who were Cain redivivus.

Why do people who love truth feel motivated to tell it? The Holy Spirit impels those who love truth to "cry aloud, spare not; ... Tell [God's true] people their transgression, and ... their sins" (Isa. 58:1). Until now, those who thus respond to the Spirit are resented. And we are all either Abels or Cains at heart.

Imagine yourself in Jerusalem in the mid-first century A.D. The most "spiritual" members of your "church" are "the devout and prominent women," the "good works" people (history says they gave pain killers to the crucified wretches, works of motherly kindness). But they oppose Paul's preaching about their "despised and rejected" Messiah and "expel" him (Acts 13:49, 50). Paul proclaims Christ with kind, loving words, tears in his voice, but he can't help bringing in "Christ and Him crucified."

Would you in sanctified common sense tell him, "Say less on that disturbing aspect of our message and tell it to these 'devout and prominent' people in a more palatable way. Paul, be a little more 'serpent-wise, but harmless as a dove.' Maybe you could win more that way; the cross is offensive. Why make these 'devout' ones so uncomfortable?" Would you?

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 11, 2005.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Reading the Ten Commandments With "New Covenant Eyes"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

If we read the Ten Commandments with "New Covenant eyes," they become ten promises of right living by faith. But how does this transformation take place?

It's not motivated by fear, the popular Old Covenant motivation. Rather, "the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men"; "grace abounded much more" than all the sin Satan could throw at us (Titus 2:11; Rom. 5:20). It teaches us "that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age" (Titus 2:12). Grace becomes our tutor in the New Covenant school, and actually trains us in total obedience to God's holy law. Plus, the tutelage is a joy all the way.

But how does grace "teach" us? Titus 2 explains: "Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, ... gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed ..." (vss. 13, 14).

Long ago, before the foundation of the world, Christ as the Son of God "gave Himself" in a solemn covenant with the Father that if sin should ever arise on earth His love would constrain Him to give Himself, that is, to die for us.

Laying aside all the advantages and prerogatives of divinity as He became incarnate in the womb of the virgin Mary, Christ grew to manhood as one of us (though still the Son of God "in the likeness of sinful flesh," Rom. 8:3), and now again He prayed to His Father, "Not as I will, but as You will" (Matt. 26:39). That "not as I will" included His human (as well as divine) will to live.

The "death" on His cross was the real thing. No thought of resurrection crossed His mind as He cried out, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" He "poured out his soul unto death," the second and final, everlasting one. A wise writer has said: "The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a Conqueror." His emptying Himself was total (see Isa. 53:12; Phil. 2:5, 6).

Grace is undeserved favor. When it's of Christ, like love, it constrains to total devotion to Him (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). The old fear is forgotten.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 26, 2006.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: What Is the "Everlasting Covenant"?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

A thoughtful person wrote asking to understand more clearly about the two covenants: What is the "everlasting covenant" (Gen. 9:16; Heb. 13:20)? And, what does it mean for us to live under the New Covenant today?

May the Lord save us from controversy and confusion!

Obviously, "the everlasting covenant" of Genesis 9:16 and Hebrews 13:20 has to be the same, for "God is not the author of confusion" (1 Cor. 14:33). And Genesis 9:16 makes clear that it is a promisethat God makes to "every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth," symbolized by the rainbow. God's covenants are never bargains He strikes with man; they are unilateral promises He makes.

But we humans are in love with the idea that we can make bargains with God; we want to be able to help save ourselves. It is too humbling to our proud souls to realize that we are dependent 100 percent on God fulfilling His promise to save us. The rainbow is a "promise" from God to every human being, good or bad. Because of that promise, God is able to treat every human with grace, as though he or she had never sinned. The grace in that "everlasting covenant" makes it possible for Him to make "His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and [to] send(s) rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:45).

The same "everlasting covenant" is God's promise to every human being on earth to "make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever" (Heb. 13:21). That's why the Father gave His Son that "whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

Christ loves the world,He died for the world,He redeemed the world, He died the world'ssecond death (Heb. 2:9), "made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21), the "us" being "every man." He wants "all mento be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:3, 4; if we had the courage to tell "every man" that "knowledge of the truth," the full truth, more would believe).

But everyone has freedom of choice, and many resist and reject what Christ has already done for them, promised them, and given them because acceptance includes deep humbling of heart before God. They deny and nullify His grace for them and so they condemn themselves.

Thus the "Old Covenant" is always based on man'spromise; the "New Covenant" is always God'spromise. Come, get under the "New."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 5, 2006.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Our “Bread” to Share Today

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When Jesus called His Twelve and ordained them, He called them to a solemn privilege: they were to take "bread" from His hands and fan out through the crowd of hungry people and feed them. The bread was never their own; they had not baked it. They only passed on the bread that had been miraculously multiplied by Jesus.

The same Savior has called you to be His servant to pass on "bread" to some hungry person. This is what it means to follow Jesus. You are never an originator of saving truth, and you are never a smart theologian. The more sincerely humble you are, the more the Lord can be honored by your ministry. The people need to know that the "bread" you are passing on is not yours, but His. "Bread" is Good News that nourishes a famished soul.

When Jesus fed the 5,000 in John 6:9-13, apparently He Himself did not serve anyone; "He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to" the people. No angel was permitted to touch that bread, as the one who fed Elijah in the desert--this job is special now for the Twelve. They are to be intermediaries between the Savior and the people. Their job is enjoyable! The people smile at them and thank them profusely for what they don't deserve thanks for. (They must remember that and never take an ounce of credit for themselves.)

And do you suppose the Twelve sneaked a bite themselves now and then, to taste if it was good? (There was always plenty, and they were hungry too.) Their first-hand testimony, "It's delicious!" was also enjoyable to give.

Our "bread" to share today is "the everlasting gospel" (Rev. 14:6, 7).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 24, 2005.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: How Can Jesus Save People Who Don’t Want to Be Saved?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

How can Jesus Christ be “the Savior of the world” (John 4:42), and “the Savior of all men” (1 Tim. 4:10), when so many people in the world reject Him? How can He save people who don’t want to be saved? Is He forcing people?

No, He will not force anyone. But if God “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16), He has a perfect right to do so. He is the Creator of the world, and of “all men.” Why can’t He love them if He wants to?

And He “so” loves them that He sent His Son to save them; that was His job description. And He did what He was sent to do: “I have finished the work which You have given Me to do,” He says (John 17:4).

That means He did “save the world.” And the clear evidence that He did so is that you at this moment are taking a breath: your physical life is full proof that He took your death and gave you His life; otherwise, you would be locked into the throes of the “second death,” which is darkness forever. Yes, we must confess, He has “tasted death [the second] for everyone” (Heb. 2:9). Isaiah 53 says, “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (vs. 6), and that means just what it says--us all. “The chastisement for our peace was upon Him” (vs. 5).

That means every moment of “peace” that anyone in all the world has ever known has had to be balanced by a corresponding payment of torture that He has had to endure in our behalf. Think of all the pleasure that countless millions have enjoyed without the slightest realization of what their “fun” has cost.

The “everlasting gospel” that must yet “lighten the earth with glory” (Rev. 18:1-4) must and will make plain this cosmic exchange. “By His stripes we are healed,” says Isaiah. Every human soul must at last be confronted with reality, must face the cross, be brought to realize the true Source of all the wealth and pleasure he or she has always enjoyed so selfishly.

“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?” (Lam. 1:12). This ultimate confrontation will be the final “everlasting gospel” that will polarize humanity into two classes: those who believe and those who disbelieve.

--Robert J. Wieand

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 13, 2003.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."